townshift competition

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townshift competition

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While stopping well short of the idea of the ecumenopolis, embedded within the premises of the Surrey Townshift competition is the assumption of increased densification; when this assumption is played out to a hypothetical endpoint a possible vision of a future Surrey would be of urban-scale development brimming up to the boundaries of the quadrants of the ALR land, still preserved as farmland or selectively converted to parks or other civic open space. Within this vision of conurbation ringing and held apart by large tracts of open space resides the necessity of the formation of a civic awareness, an identity shared by its disparate parts and inspiring engagement in its citizens. What elements in a city draw its parts together? What physical facts or associational abstractions can link a city and its people? Reeling this vision of a future Surrey back in to its point of departure, i.e. to the terms of the Townshift competition, but still posing the previous questions, the competition premises should be recast as how to link five locations within a nascent urbanization, rather than addressing them as discrete units. Therefore, this proposal treats the sites as a series of relations rather than as isolated occurrences. As the first step in redefining the emphasis of the competition, this proposal does not provide detailed solutions to the specific problems articulated in the respective design briefs, rather it suggests a framework for drawing connections between sites and experiences. In making these links, no repeatable form, module, graphic or icon is defined, rather the sites are articulated with a coupling of ambiances. These ambiances are tagged with terms invoking a social activity or organizational principle and are variously paired at the five sites. Just as the terms are transposed physically between two sites, differing senses of the same terms are explored in response to the specificities of site and program. In a trajectory through the space of a city or during one’s daily process of embedding oneself in a locale, moments arise or situations are created which awaken an awareness or understanding of one’s surroundings. By opening up to these local ambiances, even if momentary, one becomes invested in the site and the site deposits a trace of itself in the occupant. By creating a framework of relations through the city, using methods either of direct repetition or associational abstraction, the opportunities for these moments of perception and reception of the site are multiplied. A resident or passerby becoming aware of the ambiance of a site and associating it with another in the city binds the two sites together as well as herself with those sites. The senses invoked or emotions remembered in the moment of awareness and examination engender delight.

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carole lévesque

architect

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townshift competition

townshift competition

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team